The ICS L85s are actually built like tanks on the inside, the internals are super solid and I personally tested a totally stock gearbox and motor with an M150 spring and it managed to pull it.
Semi lock up was definitely on the cards and the rof on auto was slower than your nan on the stairs, but the point is, the gearbox is built better than most.
However, I would at least experiment with pistons as you're probably going to strip a few running at 11.1V, once you find one that lasts I think you'll be fine though.
The ICS L85s have a quite complex trigger mechanism that has quite a bit of extra connections to account for the receiver split when you take it apart, which can drain batteries more than most and kill trigger response a fair bit, so running 11.1V LiPos ought to account for that. If possible though I'd advise fitting a MOSFET just to route around the trigger contacts entirely. Ought to avoid the contacts oxidising that way too, as you might run into issues with the current arcing otherwise. Test it and see.
Personally I used to use 9.9V LiFes though, bit more grunt than the 7.4 LiPos but they fit the same space. Only real drawback is that they're only 1000mah max if you want to still fit them in the RIS, which means you'll probably need 4 if you want to use auto much throughout the day.
Personally I always ran with real caps and rarely if ever used auto at all, I could just about make 1000mah last me a day, but auto seriously drains it at a much higher rate than semi so just be wary if you buy any. Get at least 3 if you use high caps.

Yes, very different.
Firesupport is a shop and one of the main UKARA retailers, they helped develop UKARA as a system. They also run two sites, that I know of; Free Fire Zone and Urban Assault.
Skirmish Airsoft is a company based out of their woodland site near Mansfield, but they also have The Stan, and Wentworth CQB - though Wentworth is closing soon.
They have an online shop that I forget the name of, and the sites all have onsite shops, but on top of that they're also rapidly expanding and the business' owners both also have hands in Zombie Infection which is obviously an events company, they've recently bought out Ops7 too which is a veerrrrryyyy small airsoft shop in Sheffield.
I'd be surprised if they don't end up with more site locations and a bigger shop before long, they acquired The Stan and Wentworth within a pretty small time frame and once Wentworth closes they'll be looking for somewhere else to put their small army of marshalling staff.
Lastly, Skirmish Airsoft as a company name is a bit ambiguous since there's also Skirmish Airsoft Billericay and I think a few other similarly named places, but they're not related.

It must have an auto sear if it's select fire? Just take it out, and you're left with a G17 mechanism, no?
Glocks are pretty straight forward but the SA mech is one of the very limited few that aren't a direct clone of the TM, so most of the guides you'll find won't be fully relevant, but they should at least give you enough understanding on how it works to be able to figure out what you need to remove to glue in order to get what you want done.

I'm there on the regular, well I was, and they do allow HPA.
Never actually heard of anywhere that doesn't.
Nothing really to heads up you on, though I'd say that having a good pistol is pretty important as they sometimes impose stupid as fuck rules regarding where you can and can't use primaries to try and discourage camping and keep the pace of the games a bit more fluid - supposedly pistols are less effective at holding areas down (which I thoroughly disagree with, but that's a whole other debate) but the fact that not everyone has one, or when it's cold not all of them are particularly effective, means that defending choke points can only be done from a way back instead of right up on the area in question.
They argue that camping staircases with rifles just makes them inaccessible so you're supposed to defend them with pistols to give the attacking team a chance, but I'm a firm believer in fair fights being for suckers and not only does this flip that around to force you into being on the bad side of an unfair fight, but there isn't even anything you can do to try and rebalance it, since backing off to use your rifle is the only real option but that just gives them space to get out of the choke point and assert themselves.
Last time I was there they also limited the entire outside area to pistols only, because with rifles you would've been able to stand outside and lock all the exits down to stop anyone from flanking - apparently. But given how cold it was it just meant no one could flank anyone because you couldn't shoot anyone outside... Honestly it was shit and I've not bothered going back since.
The site was more enjoyable under Op Tac's management in my opinion, I love the Skirmish lot to bits but now they're running it all by the books with Sheffield City Council's Health and Safety board giving the go ahead on everything it's kinda just spiralled into the gutter.
That said, no one else seems to have the same issues I do as they still have it fully booked for every event, so I'd say try it and see what you think. It's a cool site, I just think that if you experienced it before the management change over, you'll feel like there's too much limitation on where you can go and what you can do.
That blacked out tunnel mentioned above for example, that's out of bounds now, most of the more indirect flanking paths are closed, and the entire bottom corner of the factory which used to be a total black out zone has now been completely walled off.

I'm a regular at all of Skirmish's sites - CQB, The Stan, Woodland is a little further out for me as I'm about 10 minutes from The Stan but I'm probably there most often because there's no booking limit lol.

I'm looking at getting a helmet set up and just want some inspiration and pointers from those who have built up some more technical looking helmet set ups.
I want a FAST helmet type thing, with an NVG mount for a GoPro, the option to add ear defenders for comms and some way to mount a battery pack on the back for the camera.
I've seen set ups like this from countless people but when it comes to physically obtaining it for myself I don't really know where to start.
Which helmets allow for this? I know there are a lot of polymer style helmets, I know there's FAST, Crye Airframe... But are these just different names for the same thing, or what? I really have no idea.
Are the NVG mounts universal? Would I need anything else to get a camera on the helmet?
The ear pieces - do they come as a set that you remove from the C shaped bit that goes around your head? Or are there specific ear pieces sold for the helmets?
How would a battery pack be mounted on the back? I know some of the helmets come with velcro on the outside, but wouldn't have thought that'd hold something that heavy well enough?
Any and all pointers would be appreciated here, folks.
Feel free to post your own lids and give me a rundown, show off, whatever you feel.
Links would also be appreciated so long as compatibility is outlined - wouldn't want to buy something thinking it'd fit and then finding out it doesn't.
Cheers!

Range is dictated by BB weight, hop and power - that's joules rather than fps. BBs are generally the most stable flying between 280 and 320fps, this isn't something I can prove, it's just something I've noticed through experience (I've been playing around 7 years). So to get the most out of your gun, you want to be using the heaviest ammo you can that will give you an fps reading in that bracket, whilst still being light enough for your hop to actually send it flying level, of course. Why heavy ammo? The added weight makes it less susceptible to air resistance, it might start off slower than a lighter bb but it'll maintain its speed for a longer period of time. To the point where beyond a certain range it will actually be travelling faster than the lighter bb that set off going faster, just because the lighter faster shot will decelerate at a higher rate. The other thing about heavier ammo, is that it retains the spin applied by hop for longer, making it actually maintain it's lift for longer. So even though it's heavier and you'd expect it to be more prone to the effects of gravity, that's actually not the case because it spins for longer and actually fights gravity for longer. How does that make any sense? Well the hop rubber is basically a brake, right? It's a brake applied to only the top side of the BB, the more hop you apply the more harshly that one side of the BB is slowed down, thus the greater the spin - we all know how hop works. But for a heavier shot, more hop is required to maintain the same - level - flight, so it gets more spin added, and that's precisely why it maintains the spin longer, because it's spinning faster in the first place. So when people say fps doesn't give more range, they're not necessarily wrong, but it'd help if they clarified by saying that JUST more fps doesn't give more range. If you just stick a bigger spring into a gun and run the same ammo through it, the shot won't fly with much stability, the air resistance will just slow the shot down faster, and you'll probably end up with so little extra range that it just won't have been worth it. Especially once you consider the negative effects of adding a heavier spring will have had on the gearbox - more stress on the gears, the motor, your trigger response and rate of fire are going to suffer, and for what? But, if you up the power via the spring, and then also increase the weight of the BB - ideally to drop the fps back down to what you were shooting at before with the lighter weight, you will hands down, 100% of the time see a range increase. The thing that people get hung up on, is that they don't understand why you'd increase the fps only to decrease it again with heavier ammo. They feel like they've taken a step forward only to take the same step back, but it's not the case because bb weight is everything. A .2 travelling 300fps will not travel as far as a .25 travelling the same speed. So a .46 travelling 300fps? Range for days. Why'd you think sniper's use heavy ammo? It's all physics.

I had the G&G Veteran model, came shooting 390 out of the box on .2s, literally all I did was add a tightbore and run .3s through it and it was an absolute beast.
Only thing I couldn't get on with was the mags were hard to find, and the weight combined with the rifle grip played merciless hell on my wrist.

Used it yesterday and loved it, could do with another mag or two though.
It's only hitting 240fps on .28s as well, I'd like that to be closer to 290, what spring do they have fitted as standard?
Thinking of putting an uprated one in and a tightbore.

I think I might've had exactly what you've got, bought it for £5 from an airshow absolutely years ago. Accuracy sounds equally appauling. Have you looked at it from the front end? Maybe even down the barrel - with it unloaded obviously - sounds as if there's an obstruction at the end of the barrel, maybe part of the outer barrel has some little spurs on it from the moulding or something? That or the inner barrel could be some whacky huge diameter and not be of uniform width. Try getting a McDonalds straw, stick it down the barrel and try shooting with that as your barrel instead. If you can get one to fit down there at least. Seen people use straws for barrels before - obviously it wouldn't be a good idea for long range accuracy, or under skirmish conditions, but in your kitchen with what sounds like the world's worst spring pistol, I doubt it's going to do anything short of improving things.

Ok, so a lot of the current forum regulars might not be that familiar with me, but I am a mod that was crazy active maybe 2/3 years ago. I run a YouTube channel in my spare time, linked in my signature, and recently I've partnered up with an airsoft parts shop - MajorAirsoft.co.uk. So check their stock out, and if there's anything you like, you can use discount code Bullet4MyEnemy for 10% off. You're welcome. All I ask, is that when visiting their site you use this link, to help me prove how much good I'm doing for them - maybe it'll lead to better discounts in the future, who knows? Oh and why not sub to the channel? It'd be the best way to hear about new deals and such. Plus, airsoft gameplay footage and the occasional tech video, review etc.